The barriers to directing music performances are breaking down.
Tang Wei, left, and Kim Tae-yong |
Kim, husband of Chinese actress Tang Wei, will take the helm of a gugak performance called "Kkokdu" slated for Oct. 4 to 22 at the National Gugak Center's Yeak-dang in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The performance is organized as a festival to wish for the success of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Around 1.2 billion won to 1.3 billion won is invested into the preparation of the musical performance.
"Kkokdu" is a short form of "kkokdu-gaksi" which refers to a marionette, and the performance, as the title suggests, will feature wooden puppets as central figures.
The gugak center recruited Kim to "create a performance which would be easily accessible to foreigners who don't know about gugak," an official from the center said.
Veteran cinematic music director Bang Joon-seok will join the crew as well and the music will be performed by the gugak center's musical team.
Kim is known for his passion for the gugak genre. He produced a performance last year at the Muju Film Festival where he blended pansori from the old film "Sung Choon-hyang" (1961) by director Shin Sang-ok with a live musical performance. He also introduced a fusion performance of reggae music and pansori at the same festival this year.
Since two film professionals are involved in this upcoming performance, it is likely to be produced in the form of a short film as well.